Few things mean home as much as Kadhi pakoda. This simple, uber delicious curry has been such a staple throughout my childhood. Whether it was post school lunches, lazy Sunday meals, scrumptious lunches at friends’ houses – you name it, Kadhi pakoda has been a part of it.
By now I have written quite a fair bit about my Bengali heritage and love for Bengali food. One of the Bengali recipes I posted was for Kasundi Chicken – this delicious, moist chicken curry with the characteristic Bengali mustard flavour. Happiness!
Today I am sharing another kasundi recipe. The awesome sauce (literally) deserves many ways to be added to your meals 🙂 It is also an amazing way to jazz up basic veggies and make them a lot more appetizing. In this case, broccoli. I like broccoli in many ways, in salad, with some masala or steamed with some garlic. But one of my favourites was when my aunt made broccoli with just panch phoron. I’ve based this recipe on my aunt’s, with the addition of the magic ingredient – kasundi!
Growing up in Delhi, the Navratras were a big deal. Nine days where people ate vegetarian food or fasted, prayed (more) and abstained from alcohol. Our family doesn’t really follow this ritual, but we did enjoy the special food our friends ate during this time. It’s a time for buckwheat instead of flour, lots of potatoes, rock salt instead of regular salt, among other things – making for some pretty tasty food.
The best food though is on the 8th day, Ashtami, where there was a puja (prayer) for girls and everyone then got to eat puris, halwa and kala channa. Since we didn’t do the puja, we used to wait for our friends to share the food with us 🙂 Priorities are clear, food above rituals 🙂
This kala channa recipe is a modification of the ashtami once, with the addition of some tomatoes and ginger – garlic plus tweaking of the spices a little. But whenever I make it, it takes me straight back to those ashtami days!
I love experimenting with new food. New cuisines, new recipes for familiar food, tweaking recipes I already know – experimentation is always good.
Sometimes experiments don’t work, but sometimes they result in such delicious food! Like this garlic bok choy with mushrooms 🙂
Paneer tikka : the quintessential appetizer/entree for Punjabi food. Right? It is probably one of the most frequently ordered starters, especially for the vegetarians.
When done right, it is super yum! Light, soft, perfectly spiced, slightly tangy, crunchy. Mmmmmm!
My Tuck Box 